Unexpected Awakenings
by AJLx
Summary: The name Peeta Mellark has been synonymous with many other titles in his eighteen years of life. Party boy, Prom King, Love Rat. Failure, if you happened to ask his mother. Enter Katniss Everdeen, who inspires him to believe that the unlikeliest of relationships can also be the most life changing. Everlark AU inspired by The Spectacular Now.
1. Chapter 1

The images flashed before him with a startling frequency.

The deep amber liquid as it dribbled down onto the dark grey canvas of his sneakers. The dark red plastic as it surrendered to the pressure of his fingers. The brimming solo cup as it crumpled within his fist and tumbled down onto the carpet. The pulsing red lights as they washed over the thrumming sea of bodies which danced and writhed around him. The cigarette ash, spilt liquor and empty beer cans which lay on the sticky expanse of carpet at his feet as he staggered to retrieve his cup.

_Fuck. _

He needed to get out. The crowd of bodies swayed and tilted before him as he clambered back to his feet. He hastily wiped the sweat from his brow as he pushed through the enthusiastic throngs of grinding bodies, sweaty limbs and gyrating hips. As he stumbled towards the door he purposely ignored the tight blonde ringlets and dark pink tank top that he knew would be his undoing. _He just needed some air. _He grabbed his navy blue jacket from the haphazard pile of coats and bags which sat discarded by the door and pulled it over his shoulders. He frantically palmed his pockets in search of his flask as he inched closer and closer towards the door. But with each step forward that he took, the door just seemed to get further and further away.

_Pull yourself together! _

He fumbled once more for the small silver flask in his inside pocket and took a desperate gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and all at once he heard her calling out to him again. But this time, he didn't look back as his trembling fingers curled around the door handle and the cool wind thrashed against his burning cheeks.

* * *

"Hello?"

He slowly blinked open his eyes. An instant onslaught of bright, golden sunlight filled his vision and made his head throb in protest. He clenched his eyes shut tightly and winced as the burning sheet of orange seemed to imprint itself against the back of his eyelids. He frowned deeply as his body awakened to a puzzling array of smells and textures. The sour taste of whiskey lingering on his breath, he was used to. The rancid stench of tobacco clinging to his clothing, he was used to. But this was _different_. He felt a soft, almost sharp sensation tickling his cheek and an urgent prodding against his ribs. He rolled lazily onto his back and breathed in the scents of sunshine and freshly mowed grass. And not like the stupid Yankee Candle versions that his ex- girlfriend loved so much either. But real grass, wet with dew. The prodding against his ribs grew more insistent.

_What the fuck?!_

"Are you okay?"

He dared to open his eyes once more, mentally preparing himself for the bright assault of sunlight. But this time, the sharp rays of the sun were partially blocked from his vision. They did however frame a curious, almost angry looking face. The golden orange worked to accent the figure of the teenage girl who frowned down at him, her hands placed strongly on her hips. The beaming sunlight contrasted against her long, dark braid and gleamed above her head like a halo.

_Is this a dream? _

He marvelled at her for just a little too long, and he heard her cough uncomfortably as he continued to drink her in. She seemed familiar, but he's sure he would have noticed this girl before. She was so naturally beautiful, her grey eyes so remarkably striking as she scowled down at him. She wasn't covered in thick layers of makeup and the tanned sheen of her skin was quite obviously _not_ from a spray can. His heavy-lidded eyes gazed down at the gentle curves of her body, openly gawking as he took in her simple jeans and band tee a little _too_ blatantly. His gaze wandered back up to her full lips, and he felt a stirring in his jeans as he imagined what they would feel like wrapped_—_

_OW!_

The sharp swipe of her foot against his ribcage brought him out of his musings. _Okay, not a dream _he realised as he rubbed his painfully smarting skin. He supposed he deserved that. He felt a stifling heat rise up to his cheeks that had nothing to do with the mild weather and everything to do with his_—_admittedly creepy and not at all subtle_—_appraisal of her.

"So you _are_ alive then?" he heard her scoff as she scuffed her battered pair of converse against the lawn.

"Looks that way," he replied gruffly as he lifted his reeling head from the ground and took in his surroundings.

From this vantage resting on his elbows, he spied a small residential street. And there he was; dazed, hung-over and sprawled out unceremoniously across the lawn of this girl's house. The same girl who was quite clearly getting more and more annoyed by the second, he thought. He fought back a smirk at the way her fingers drummed impatiently against her hips and ignored her ire; he found it strangely sexy. He craned his neck in the hope of placing his location, but his mind came up empty. The houses around him were all slightly smaller and significantly more dilapidated than those from his own neighbourhood. The flowerbeds were less elaborate, but he liked it better. The fences and gates were less maintained, but he liked it better. The front doors and windows weren't so fancy, and the paint peeled in places. But it was nice, it was _real. _He looked back to the girl, who had resorted to tapping her foot irritably against the ground and appeared to be debating whether or not to kick him again. He patted his jacket idly, and smiled when he felt the hard steel of his flask. At this, the girl looked back over at him curiously, the light sweeping of freckles across her nose standing out against the sunshine and wisps of her dark hair dancing in the breeze.

"So… are you going to get up?" She finally queried. No hint of sympathy. Not that he deserved any. He _had _got wasted and passed out in her yard after all.

"Are you gonna help me?" he asked her with a cheeky wink.

_Fuck hung-over, I must still be drunk to play it like that _he thought.

"No…" She replied, drawing out the simple word as if it were a question. He couldn't help but stare at the way her dusky lips pursed as she elongated the syllable.

A long silence permeated the air around them against a backdrop of gently pulsing sprinklers and softly crooning radios. He broke out of his trance and watched across the narrow street as a pair of dark haired siblings played basketball and he tried to hide his ever-growing embarrassment.

"Come on Peeta, are you gonna get up? I have to get to work."

At this, he looked back over at the girl so quickly that his neck cracked painfully in response. His throat felt uncomfortably dry despite the vomit which threatened to bubble forth.

"How do you know my name?" He choked out in surprise, silently praying that he hadn't disturbed her last night whilst in his drunken stupor.

The girl sighed deeply and looked down at her feet. Her well-worn converse were covered in sporadic patches of green and brown and scraped at the toe.

"We go to the same school, Peeta. We're in the same year, in fact. We have English class together."

Peeta blinked and felt his mouth gape open in shock. She had to be lying, there's no way that he would never have noticed this frustratingly beautiful girl before. She was _different. _She was moody and sullen but he couldn't even begin to comprehend the effect that she was having on him. She was different, in the best possible way. Just like everything else about this neighbourhood and this whole damn morning in general. He knew he must have looked ridiculous, his mouth wide open in shock, his wavy blonde hair sticking out in all directions, his shirt stained with beer and his shoes…

_Where were his shoes?_

As if reading his mind, the girl's stern expression suddenly wavered as the corner of her lips quirked up in amusement. She covered her mouth to stifle her laugher as she gestured to the rusty old mailbox which stood in front of them. Whilst one of his sneakers lay neglected on the ground, the other had been stuffed inside amongst a pile of pamphlets. And if the silver chain wrapped around the post was anything to go by, his wallet had been thrust in there for good measure too.

Peeta cringed at the display, and brought his hand up to cover his eyes. This caused the girl to laugh even harder, and the sound was so unlike anything else that he had ever heard. It wasn't fake, or forced, or even ladylike. It was honest and real and he found himself desperate to make her laugh like that again and again. He peeked back at her through his splayed fingers and grinned as he saw her clutching her side in mirth. And in that moment she was so beautiful, and he was so goddamn stupid that he couldn't help but laugh along with her.

A series of whoops and hollers interspersed with their laughter, and they both turned towards the dark haired siblings across the street as their basketball rolled out into the road.

"Nice shot, Posy!" the girl in front of him cheered as a genuine smile took over her face. He studied her profile for a scant moment before her eyes flittered back over towards him.

Eventually she extended her hand in his direction, and he gripped on tight as she helped him to his feet. His head rolled forward and the world began to spin as he pitched forward towards her in his daze. The olive skin of her shoulder was so soft and steadying that he felt his fingers squeeze and his thumb twitch across her flesh before he could so much as think about stopping himself. He noticed the goose bumps which inundated her skin as she grabbed onto his shoulders to steady him before she stepped out of his grasp. He watched her intently as his arm dropped limply beside him and smacked uselessly against his thigh. Now that he stood at his full height, he could really appreciate her. She seemed to be about his age, with a petite figure that was practically the perfect juxtaposition to his much stockier frame. A small dimple appeared in her left cheek as she laughed nervously. He was mesmerised.

"So you're not joking, we really are in the same class?" he asked as he placed his hands on his knees to centre himself, before shamefully walking over to retrieve his shoes.

"Yep" she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mr Abernathy, right? Did you hear about the time that I stole his liquor from his desk and filled his flask with vinegar?" he chuckled, hopping manically on his right leg to place his shoe.

"Mmm, yeah" She answered, suddenly completely uninterested and staring up at the rapidly forming clouds.

_Not the response he expected. Glimmer thought it was hilarious. _

"Well yeah, it was _—_"

"So do you want a ride home or not? Like I said, I'm running late." She interrupted him harshly, back to business and her total indifference towards him.

"Uh... yeah. Please" he murmured, suddenly sheepish as he followed her rapidly retreating form. He seized his wallet and jogged to catch up with her, begging his memory to recall her. _Her name might be a good start, loser _his mind taunted him as he hopped into her scuffed green truck. If she had been one of the dumb cheerleader types from school, he would have simply been content to address her as 'babe', or 'gorgeous.' But he had the feeling that this girl would kick his ass if he so much as looked at her funny.

The interior of her truck was just as worn and rundown as the outside, a far cry from the fancy leather seat warmers of his Land Rover. He fastened his threadbare seat belt and glanced back over towards her, but frowned at what he saw. For the first time, this girl didn't look angry, nor was she laughing. Her eyebrows were knitted together, and a light pink blossomed over her cheeks as she adjusted her interior mirror. She was _embarrassed_. He suddenly felt his heart plummet. If anybody should be embarrassed, it was him. He was sunburnt and blotchy from his whole impromptu slumber party in her garden, his clothes were rumpled and dirty, and his body was stinking and hung-over as hell. He wanted to say something, to reach out and comfort her somehow. But he feared the extravagant display of wealth that the shiny silver watch on his wrist expressed would only make him seem like more of a jerk. The girl tossed her ebony braid over her shoulder and twirled her keys around her index finger, resolutely avoiding his gaze. She may not have had the level of privilege that he did, but Peeta decided in that moment that she had more class in her little finger than anyone from his entire neighbourhood could claim. The tinkling of her keychain reverberated throughout the entirety of the truck; breaking him out of his reverie and echoing throughout his brain in a way which made his head pound in tandem. He was just about to tell her to _kindly _knock it off, when she quickly interrupted him.

"My name is Katniss, by the way. I might as well tell you before you burst a blood vessel trying to figure it out. Your face is going real red over there."

"Katniss? Katniss _Everdeen?_"

"Oh, so you _do _remember me" she replied drily, as she distractedly pulled out into the street.

_Remember? How could he forget?_

As they stopped almost instantly at a red light, he watched as she rolled down her window and let a gentle draught roll through the truck. The breeze carried the scents of bar soap, lavender and pine trees that he knew at once were simply a heady combination of _her_.

Katniss Everdeen had been his first crush. He had first spotted her on his first day of infant school and his Spiderman lunch box had clattered down onto the pavement at his first glimpse of her red plaid dress. Her hair had been two braids back then, and her eyes were a slightly different shade of grey to the ones which had greeted him today. This morning with the golden sun as his guide, Peeta had been able to detect the tiny flecks of electric blue which now stood out against the deep slate grey of her iris.

Back in infant school and after two years of admiring her from afar, he had finally made her a gift for Valentine's Day. It wasn't particularly very good, but that didn't mean he hadn't put any work into it. His clumsy child's fingers had iced a small replica of her namesake_—_the Katniss flower_—_onto one of his father's famous sugar cookies and he had proudly placed it within her designated tray in their classroom. Only, he never actually told her that it was from him. He had watched her that morning as she had picked it up between her tiny fingers and unfurled the crinkly red tissue paper to reveal his sugary gift. His gap-toothed smile had stretched its widest as he had watched her mouth open in awe and her eyes glisten. But he didn't move an inch when she turned around in confusion and glanced at her classmates; his body had been so still that he felt as though he had been glued to his chair. He was frozen by his own innocent infatuation and fear of humiliation.

The next several months of his childhood flew by, and in that time he learnt how to ride a bike, he lost two baby teeth and he _finally_ beat both of his brothers at Jenga. But he had still never uttered so much as a word to Katniss Everdeen. But on one particularly cold November morning that had sent his teeth chattering and his skin stinging, Katniss never turned up to class. But she was _always _there for class, even when her nose was runny and her knees were scraped. She didn't come back the next day either, nor the day after that. Peeta had run home to his father that evening with tears threatening to burst from his eyes and stream down his cheeks. His father had lifted him onto the kitchen counter as he brushed the curls from his eyes and explained to him that Katniss had lost her father. _Lost? _He remembered asking. _Where was he last? _He wanted to was always what his father had always asked _him _when he needed help looking for something. But his father just stroked his cheek and sighed as he told him that Katniss' father had died. Peeta still remembered the fear that churned within his stomach that evening when he was told that Katniss might be absent from school for a little while longer. And so he waited. And waited some more. He used to slip sugar cookies into her tray every morning in the hope that she would come skipping back through the door like she used to. He would stare at the bold, printed out letters of her name which labelled her tray for so long that the letters always turned blurry in his vision and all fused together. But she never came back.

Eventually, Peeta starting mooching about with Finnick Odair and everything changed. _A well timed growth spurt, cheap cider, girls._ The shy boy with chubby cheeks who used to stare at Katniss Everdeen across the playground and blush was long gone. As he progressed through school, he grew broad and strong and the girls started staring and blushing at _him. _

"Where shall I drop you off then?" Katniss uttered, unknowingly breaking him from his memories. He looked up and out of the windshield, hoping that she wouldn't notice the glassy tears which clung to his fair eyelashes as he blinked them away.

"Where are you going?" he croaked.

Katniss looked back over to him in surprise at his change of tone, and her face softened for a fraction of a second at his forlorn expression.

"Capitol Bar" she replied, referring to a local dive bar that he knew his oldest brother had been kicked out of twice before. It wasn't exactly known for its honourable reputation.

"You work _there?_" he asked, his voice rising in surprise and mild disgust.

"Yeah, the owner is an old friend of my family. He pays me to come in and clean before they open."

Peeta squinted over at the small clock face on the dashboard, _8.14._

"And now you're late" he muttered dejectedly. She didn't reply.

_Because of me _he thought. He couldn't let her take the fall for this.

"Let me come with you" he added when their conversation fell silent. The only sounds which filled the void as he waited for her response were that of the trucks sputtering, thunderous engine. She needed more persuading.

"Let me help you do your cleaning and whatever to help make up for making you late and_—_"

"_—_Passing out on my lawn" she finished for him with a small smile.

"Yeah for passing out on your lawn and_—_"

"_—_Putting your shoes in my mailbox." Peeta could feel his cheeks burning yet again.

"Yeah, and for putting my shoes in your mailbox and_—_"

"_—_Throwing up over my neighbours flowerbeds" she finished for him once again, barely holding her laughter back now.

"What? I didn't, did I?" he exclaimed, thoroughly mortified.

"Yeah, and you also…"

"_—_Okay! Okay! All right, Katniss. I get the picture. I'm sorry!" he gasped through his own amusement.

"So, let me get this straight?" Katniss began as she parked up outside of the derelict bar. "You want to help me clean the bar? You know, washing dishes and cleaning dirty toilets?" She asked, as she raised a sceptical eyebrow in his direction.

Peeta felt his stomach churn at the mention of toilets and filth but tried his best to keep the grimace off his face.

"Yep" he replied after a beat, a smirk forming in response to her shocked expression. He quickly tried to convince himself that he was simply doing this to repay his debt to her, for all of the havoc that he had caused her this morning.

_Except for the fact that you still have a crush on her! That you actually want to spend time with her! _His thoughts jeered back at him.

He shook his head and watched as she unclipped her seat beat and stretched over towards the back seat. He restrained himself from looking down at her cleavage as she reached over and fumbled around in search of something.

His stared furiously at his lap and began to pick at a loose thread in his jeans when a small, pink apron was tossed into his lap.

"Let's go then" she challenged, as she climbed out of her seat and slammed the truck door behind her.

* * *

As they stepped over towards the entrance of the bar, Peeta couldn't help but cringe at its appearance. The crumbling walls were covered in cobwebs, graffiti and several dark stains which he could only imagine were a combination of dried piss and spilt beer. The neon sign that sat crooked above the door sizzled and hissed dangerously as they walked beneath it. All three of its vowels were smashed, proclaiming the bar CPTL; which Peeta concluded sounded more like some sort of computer function than anything else. Katniss unlocked a rather feeble looking deadbolt before looking over her shoulder and ushering him inside. It was nothing special, just a few pitiful looking booths and a selection of moth-eaten stools surrounding the bar. His fingertips ached to reach out for her and slide down her curves as he followed her further into the darkness with only the dim lights of the jukebox to light their path. The musty stench of sweat and whiskey instantly assaulted Peeta's nostrils and did nothing to help his resurfacing hangover. Katniss seemed to notice his unsettled reaction, turning back to face him with a knowing smirk plastered across her face. But then the gentle orange and red lights of the jukebox washed over her skin just so and made him lose any semblance of nonchalance.

"You should feel right at home here" she grinned, gesturing towards the empty bottles of beer which crowded the bar like old patrons before throwing him a pair of rubber gloves.

Together they thrust open the blinds, pulled the fusty barstools down and switched on the blinking overhead lights. She washed the dishes, whilst he dried. She cleaned the ladies toilets and he rather begrudgingly cleaned the men's. As they wiped down the bar, the strong smells of bleach and disinfectant seemed to burn straight through his nostrils and down his throat, but at least it was better than the stuffy alternative. The bar was so neglected that he half expected tumbleweed to come breezing through at some point. When they had finally finished, they collapsed down into a booth with two glasses of coke in hand and their mops, plungers and gloves discarded behind the bar. He ran over the chipped rim of his glass with the sleeve of his jacket before taking a welcome sip of the soothing liquid. He instinctively patted his pocket for his trusty silver flask, but an awkward throat clearing caused him to falter in his movements.

"Thanks for helping me today" Katniss muttered. Her plush lips pursed and her silver eyes narrowed as she looked towards his jacket pocket.

"No problem. I actually kinda enjoyed myself" he replied shyly and chuckled at her disbelieving expression.

_Shy? Since when was Peeta Mellark shy anymore? _He wasn't sure himself, but Katniss just seemed to bring it out of him. The cocksure attitude that he normally displayed around cute girls went straight out of the window when it came to her. Deep down, he was still the same boy who felt frozen in his seat whenever she glanced his way.

"Okay, the men's bathroom stalls… not so much" he relented as he tilted his head, which caused her lips to curve upwards in response. He liked how she seemed to transition from scowling to playful, with no in between. Katniss Everdeen didn't play games.

"Well, Mellark. You were actually a big help. So thanks. Consider your debt repaid. Just wait here one sec and I'll get my keys and take you home."

Shy or not, he couldn't quite help but stare at her ass as she walked around the bar and reached for her purse.

* * *

The balmy sun was much higher in the sky when Katniss eventually pulled up outside of his home. Her eyes seemed to widen at the sight of the huge, pristinely kept house and obnoxious double garage. His neighbourhood was all white picket fences, gravel driveways and precisely groomed rosebushes. An uncomfortable silence overtook the truck. He didn't want to get out and go home just yet. He looked over at Katniss, his heart sinking. His shot at befriending her was slipping through his fingers like quicksand. His fingers twitched in their desperation to reach out and smooth down the flyaway hairs that had escaped from her dark braid. But she wasn't like the other girls, he had to remind himself. She wouldn't giggle mindlessly and lean closer towards him to give him a better view of her chest.

"Well… thanks again." She hedged.

"No problem" he replied, reluctantly reaching for the door handle. He might have been goddamn stupid, but he could take a hint. He took once last look at her face, before turning back towards the artificial grandeur of his home. He took one uncertain step forward, before the roaring of her trucks engine brought him back to his senses.

"Wait!" he yelled, turning back towards her. He ran his hands frantically through his wavy blonde hair as she regarded him once more.

_Here goes nothing._

"Can I have lunch with you at school on Monday?" he blurted out.

His heart was pounding as she raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. He could almost hear the cogs turning in her brain.

"Um… I mean… I don't know" she answered hesitantly, before turning her gaze back towards the dusty windshield in front of her.

_Rejection._

"Please!" he begged, quickly placing his hands beneath his chin and giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

He watched intently as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to spite her grin.

"Okay… but only on the condition that you _never _pull that stupid face at me again" she yielded with a spirited shake of her head.

He smiled his widest at her, relishing in her playful frustration with him as he finally shut the truck door behind him. She turned back once more, placing her hands more securely on the steering wheel and putting the truck into gear.

"Katniss! One last thing." She turned back towards him, looking utterly exasperated.

"I just… I have no idea how I never noticed you in English before" he muttered, looking down to the meticulously preened grass beneath his sneakers in shame.

"Don't worry about it, Peeta. I've always been kind of invisible" she replied. But she didn't sound bitter, or upset or even offended. In fact, she sounded remarkably indifferent.

He looked up to object, but choked on the thick streams of fog which expelled from her truck as she pulled away and back down his street.

"Not to me" he replied weakly, kicking a small pebble into the immaculate flowerbeds as he watched her speed away.

* * *

**AN: The next chapter is outlined and partially written so if anybody at all is interested in reading it, please follow/review to let me know! **


	2. Chapter 2

Katniss Everdeen glared at the cracked mirror which was propped up against her dresser and huffed audibly.

_Why do I even care? _She wondered, as she raked her fingers through her loose waves and refashioned her braid for the _fourth_ time. She coated her chapped lips with a sufficient layer of lip balm and straightened out her white tank top accordingly. She narrowed her eyes as she looked back towards her reflection and pulled at an invisible thread in the worn denim of her shorts. She nervously glanced back towards her closet and the pale yellow sundress that she had been fretting over all weekend. The desk fan whirled around the stuffy heat of the room, causing the pages of the calendar on her bedside table to ripple in the oncoming draught.

_Monday._

Peeta was supposed to be having lunch with her today.

_Don't get your hopes up, Everdeen _her thoughts sneered back at her as she lunged for her school books and marched out of her bedroom.

Her younger sister was eating some kind of granola bar in the kitchen, which was otherwise silent aside from the low humming of the refrigerator. The slapping of her sandals soon filled the emptiness as she marched towards the fridge and peeled away the bright orange post-it note that had been placed beside a cluster of magnets. The various bottles of milk and soda clinked and rattled inside as she pressed her back against the door and sighed at the familiar loopy handwriting which filled the square. She already knew what it was going to say.

_Working late again. There's milk in the fridge for cereal, but no bread left. _

_Be back about 9._

_Mum._

Katniss eagerly grabbed a bowl of cereal for herself and glanced around the room as she chewed. The ugly floral wallpaper was starting to peel again and the blue tiles beneath her flats were cracking in places. Her eyebrows furrowed as she wondered how much of her next pay-check she could contribute towards some kind of redecorating. Her mouth pulled into a grimace though as she remembered the tiny electrical sparks that had been exploding out of the microwave. _Maybe next month_, she told herself with a sigh. The gentle clanging of cutlery against ceramic swiftly brought her out of her musings, and she curiously glanced over to the sink where her sister was washing last night's dishes.

"You look nice" her sister said, offering her a small smile.

Katniss ducked her head and immediately felt stupid for relenting to the thin coat of mascara that she had applied to her lashes.

"Thanks, little Duck" she muttered, peeking over at the tiny blonde. She suddenly felt ridiculous and wanted nothing more than to sprint to the bathroom and scrub it all off, but it was too late now.

"Let's get going then" she sighed.

* * *

After she dropped Prim off at her classroom, Katniss made her way through the bustling hallways and towards her Biology laboratory. The crowds of overzealous teenagers pushed past her and jostled into her rucksack as she fought her way through and stumbled over to her locker. She sifted through the assortment of brightly coloured fliers which had been thrust inside before placing down her books. Katniss began to fumble through her various folders in search of her timetable when an overwhelming mist of Victoria's Secret body spray floated through the air and sprinkled over her skin. She cringed at the sickly sweet fragrance and glanced to her left in the same moment that the platinum blonde chignon of her offender was shoved into her face.

_Glimmer Anderson. _

Katniss sputtered around the series of long, synthetic blonde strands that had been thrust into her mouth and pulled away in disgust. Glimmer stood with her back towards Katniss, completely oblivious as she used one hand to douse herself in perfume whilst the other curled around her iPhone as her fingertips pounded against the screen.

Glimmer Anderson was without a doubt the most popular girl in school. _And probably the dumbest, too _she thought sardonically. _If she had a brain, she'd be dangerous. _

Fake giggles, hair extensions, trust funds_. _All of these combined to create the hot mess that was Glimmer Anderson. She staggered around school in her designer wedges and padded bras like she owned the damn place. And to some extent, she did. It was fucked up, but wasn't every stupid school hierarchy? Glimmer was one of those girls who liked to appear effortless, as though she had just rolled out of bed looking flawless and wandered into school amidst a breeze of butterflies and daisies. In her natural habitat, she was most likely to be uttering the phrases, _Oh, this old thing? _Or _I don't even have any makeup on! _

But if you weren't a salivating teenage boy and you actually looked close enough, you'd realise that she wasn't quite as contained as she seemed. Her 'messy' buns were held in place by about forty bobby pins and half a can of hairspray. Her 'natural' tan from summer break was actually all blotchy and orange between her manicured fingers. And her 'flawless' skin was caked in expensive foundation that she troweled on after gym class.

_Not that Katniss hated her or anything. _

But it was kind of hard _not_ to hate a downright drama queen who giggled behind her claws and taunted the younger or less fortunate kids.

"I just don't know how he could do that to me" she heard Glimmer sniffle. Katniss tilted her head, her interest suddenly piqued.

"Fucking Peeta Mellark" she heard her friends commiserate in unison. "You could do so much better than him anyway babe" one piped up from behind the sticky wand of her lip gloss tube.

Katniss felt her cheeks burn with heat at the mention of Peeta, ducking her head and rushing into class as the bell shrieked through the now rapidly thinning crowd.

Katniss scampered across the corridor and slipped into her lab before the teacher slammed the door shut behind her. A loud chorus of curses from the latecomers trapped behind the door echoed throughout the room as their hands slapped against the frosted glass. Katniss heaved a sigh of relief as she plopped herself down onto a wooden stool and shoved her rucksack beneath her desk as Mr Heavensbee starting droning on about Osmosis. She zoned out almost instantly, her gaze flitting up towards the thrumming hands of the clock which was placed above her teacher's balding head. It wasn't that she didn't care; it was just that she had already covered this topic in meticulous detail by herself. Katniss had never put much stock within the teachers of Panem's education system and that, combined with her slight social anxiety was why she had been home schooled for so many years after her father's death. But when her mother just didn't have the time or resources anymore, both her and Prim were shipped back to Panem Community School. Much to Katniss' chagrin, of course. She was still a straight A student, but she preferred to learn the topics herself at home with a tub of ice cream rather than listening to the incessant blathering of her teachers. It's not like she had much else to do at home anyway, except for her weekly cleaning shifts at _Capitol_. Besides that, she only ever spent her weekends eating junk food and watching _Breaking Bad._

Katniss pulled out her spiralled notebook and flipped to the back. She started to doodle carelessly in the margins, and the rough outlines of trees soon began to fill the frayed edges of the paper. She tilted her pen slightly in order to add shade to the barely legible leaves, when suddenly the movements of her wrist morphed the billowing greenery into an almond shaped pair of eyes. The ink of her ballpoint was black, but she knew almost instantly that the pair of eyes she was drawing would have been a clear, glistening blue if possible. She ripped out the page as silently as possible and crumpled the paper in her fist, throwing it back into her bag with a scowl.

_Peeta fucking Mellark. _

She rested her head in her hands and sighed. She had actually enjoyed her time with him on Saturday, and now he was about the ruin it. Because, the slightly shy Peeta Mellark who helped her clean the clogged toilets at _Capitol _did not collaborate with the confident jock who sauntered through school. The jerk who winked at the popular girls and pinned them against their lockers as they giggled was certainly not the same guy who had blushed and fumbled when he asked to have lunch with her. But in the back of her mind, she kind of hoped that he would come and find her at lunch like he promised. That he'd approach her where she sat at the back of the cafeteria and make a joke about the lunch ladies spaghetti or something. Or that he'd sit down next to her and nervously rub at the back of his neck whilst she teased him about his drunken antics. But this was _Peeta Mellark. _He may not have remembered her, but she certainly knew him. His _reputation_, more notably. A different girl every week, the same silver flask getting him wasted every weekend. Whilst Katniss would spend her weekends with Walter White, Peeta would spend his with Jack Daniels. She decided not to get her hopes up about having a new lunch companion today. Or any day, really.

When the bell rang for lunch, the collective sigh of her classmates resounded over the frantic rustling of papers and shuffling of feet. The relentless chatter filled her ears like the squawking of parrots as she shuffled down to the cafeteria. She flinched as a football went soaring over her head and a large redhead dived past her to grab it. She cautiously peered back over her shoulder as she walked through the large double doors of the cafeteria_—_which were haphazardly propped open by two plastic chairs_—_and snatched up a tray. She filled it with a sandwich, a cookie and bottle of Dr Pepper before she pulled a note from her pocket and queued up to pay behind a gaggle of girls from the year below. Katniss kept her head down and let the loose, wispy hairs from her braid hide her face as she made her way to her usual table at the back of the hall, out of sight from any of the annoying cliques. It was yet another cliché about school life, but in her mind it was alarmingly accurate. In small clusters around the room sat the jocks who guffawed over their protein shakes, the book worms that pored over their textbooks and the hipsters who fiddled with the thick rimmed glasses that they didn't even need. And if she poked her head around the large pillar in front of her, her eyes would indefinitely be met with an explosion of pink tracksuits, designer tote bags and fake smiles.

Katniss picked the thickly sliced tomatoes out of her ham salad sandwich and waited. _Don't get your hopes up _her head chanted. The five words had been chiming through her mind all day with the intensity of Big Ben.

Fifteen minutes later, and Peeta clearly wasn't coming. Not that she expected any less. _Twenty minutes_. She opened her bottle of soda and took a swig. Although she was hidden from view, she could still hear Glimmer's shrieking from her vantage point. She could almost picture it, her French tipped talons waving through the air and her overly glossed lips pouting as she bored everybody with her overdramatic tales of fabulousness. Katniss rummaged around in her rucksack for her headphones and cursed inwardly when the image of her iPod charging on her nightstand back at home leapt into her mind.

Katniss looked down, huffing in frustration. Upon closer inspection, her milk chocolate chip cookie looked a little stale. It was clearly one of _those _days. She took a hesitant bite anyway, just as a large hand was placed upon her shoulder. She jumped, her natural instinct causing her fingers twitch in search of her pepper spray, but a startlingly blue pair of eyes pulled her up short.

"Hey" she sputtered through a mouthful of cookie, crumbs spilling from her mouth.

_Smooth._

"Hey" he replied, a beaming smile forming on his face as he took a seat opposite her.

"Sorry I'm late" he continued, seemingly oblivious to the epic battle that she and her napkin had waged against the crumbs on her chin.

"I had detention and then I couldn't find you anywhere. It's a nice little hiding place you got here, Everdeen" he added as he pulled a bottle of water from his bag.

He looked good, _really _goddamn good. He'd obviously just come from gym class, his flaxen hair slightly damp and sticking to his forehead. She watched in appreciation as a small bead of moisture trickled down his neck and underneath the collar of his white football jersey. She took a brief moment to wonder whether it was sweat or shower water which formed the droplets that trailed down his body. When she looked back up to meet his gaze his blue eyes twinkled with mischief, perfectly complimented by the darker blue of his school issued gym shorts.

"Well, like I said… invisible" she replied, forcing herself from her daydream. She placed down her napkin and gestured towards herself. "I like it though" she defended, with an infinitesimal shrug of her shoulders.

"I like it too" Peeta replied, his grin stretching impossibly wider to reveal the pearly white teeth that even years of braces on anybody else probably wouldn't have been able to perfect.

_Yeah, cause you'd be embarrassed to be seen with me otherwise. _

Katniss coughed uncomfortably, a particular nervous tick of hers which Peeta picked up on immediately. She was grateful for the quick change of topic as he pointed down to her pitiful looking cookie and quirked a fair eyebrow.

"You know, I could make you a much better cookie than that with my eyes closed. And my hands tied behind my back probably. Or I could make you a brownie, a macaroon, or whatever you'd like really" he stated with a palpable sense of pride.

Peeta Mellark, a _baker? What kind of alternative universe have I just fallen into? _She thought as she looked over at him dubiously.

He chuckled at her astonished expression, quickly offering her a curly fry from his plate.

"Yeah, I mean I like to cook… but don't tell the guys about that. They'll probably call me a pussy or something."

Katniss cringed at his crass language and nodded dumbly.

_Oh yeah, 'the guys.' Because I obviously know 'the guys' _Katniss thought sarcastically as she restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Here he was, ruining it, just as she predicted.

Peeta shuffled awkwardly in his seat before leaning forward to grab a spare napkin from the edge of her tray. The action caused her to catch the scents of cologne and shampoo that lingered on his skin and made her squirm in her seat. He smelt _amazing. _Not like stale sweat or whiskey like last time, but just _nice. _

The unusual pair sat together for the rest of their lunch period and Katniss found herself slowly warming back up to him. She fleetingly wondered how they must have looked. The dark haired, hostile and scowling Katniss Everdeen stealing fries from the plate of a blue eyed, grinning Peeta Mellark. Peeta shared his lunch with her, and she had to admit that the large cheese buns he produced from a crumpled paper bag tasted incredible. Katniss moaned at the first taste of the creamy, mild cheese as it melted on her tongue, completely oblivious to the way Peeta's eyes darkened at the way she sucked her fingers clean afterwards. She teased him about how he had heaved and gagged at the smell of the men's toilets at _Capitol _and he changed the subject seamlessly by quizzing her about all of her favourite things. The time flew by so quickly, that they both looked around in shock as the insufferable chimes of the bell interrupted their game of paper football. The cafeteria had cleared considerably at this point, and Katniss breathed a sigh of relief at the relative calm that filled the giant hall. They hurriedly cleared the discarded papers and napkins from their table, grabbing their bags as they stood up to leave. Katniss led the way to end of the table, a huge grin taking over her face as she turned back around to brag about her victory once more. But she soon stopped in her tracks and the smile dropped from her face. The playful words died in her throat and her jaw dropped open in surprise. Peeta stood behind her, his chair pushed back behind him as he stretched his muscular arms over his head. The seemingly innocent movement caused the bottom hem of his jersey to ride up over the waistband of his shorts, revealing to her a perfect smattering of fine golden hairs that trailed down his torso.

_Stop staring, Katniss! Stop. Stop. Stop!_

"So, Katniss. I have a favour to ask." Katniss looked up at the sound of his voice.

_Jesus Christ, anything._

The more rational side of her brain however, decided to offer up a more diplomatic response.

"What?"

Peeta ran his hands through his wavy hair, which was completely dry now and curling up delectably around his ears. He began to rub the back of his neck again.

_He was nervous, or embarrassed. _

"I'm not stupid, but… it's fair to say, I've been slacking in English recently. Abernathy is giving me such a hard time, and I mean you seem really smart. You're really…" He stopped for a moment and looked to be composing himself.

"Would you tutor me?" he finally asked, red faced and grimacing.

_Was this really a good idea?_

The image of his toned stomach popped back into her mind, and the idea of _studying_ that dark blonde trail of hair made her mouth feel like it was stuffed with cotton wool.

_Say yes! _

"Um. Sure. I mean, why not?" Katniss replied, her voice coming out all breathy and annoying. _Ugh. _

"Great" he grinned back at her. "Well, when are you free?"

"Um… Well, you can come over and study at mine whenever you're available, I guess."

Peeta smirked, his confident persona visibly resurfacing as his lips quirked into a crooked grin that she was almost positive had made panties drop all over campus. If nothing else, Peeta Mellark was certainly an enigma. He was confident and charming, with a cheekiness that was both infuriating and endearing. Yet sometimes, there was that side of him that came out all blundering and shy and _adorable_.

"Well, I believe we have English now. So lead the way milady" he chuckled, offering her his arm.

* * *

When the pair finally arrived at English class, Mr Abernathy gave them his trademark scowl.

"Oh Nice of you to join us, sweetheart" he slurred in her direction.

"As for you, Mellark. You still owe me that detention after school. No messing me about again this time" the greying teacher growled.

The pair sighed and sat down together at a desk near the front, much to the pleasure of their classmates who jeered at their scolding. Katniss ducked her head in embarrassment and traced her fingertips over the graffiti which had been carved into the desktop.

Mr Abernathy took a hearty gulp from his thermos_—_which everyone knew was spiked with white liquor_—_before wheeling in an enormous, ancient looking television. His weathered hands wiped at the grime on the screen before he slipped in a dusty old video cassette of _Dracula _and retired back to his desk_. _The video kept jumping and sticking in places, to which their surly teacher simply gave the television a harsh series of thumps. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to Christopher Lee and his creepy red eyes anyway. Finnick Odair had his arm draped over a mystified looking brunette at the back as he whispered into her ear. Cato Roberts was making paper airplanes and throwing them at the back of Clove Dyer's head. Katniss certainly wasn't paying attention herself. She was too painfully hyper aware of every movement that the blonde sitting next to her made. It was seventy five minutes of torture.

As the ending credits appeared on the screen, Katniss felt a gentle nudge to her elbow before a small scrap of graph paper was placed in front of her.

_So when's our date? _She read and frowned back over at Peeta before grabbing his pen.

_What date? _

_Don't you remember? You invited me over to your house ;) _he quickly responded. Katniss smiled despite herself.

_Yeah, to __study__. It's not a date. Don't get too ahead of yourself, Mellark._

At that moment, the overhead lights blinked back to life and caused the class to moan in unison as they covered their eyes in protest.

"Right, that's the end of the day folks. Off you go, I'm sure you've all got homes to go to!"

Katniss looked over to the clock in surprise, _3.15_.

"Not so fast, Mr Mellark" Mr Abernathy snarled as Peeta dived for his gym bag and got to his feet. "Sit back down. You still owe me that detention."

Katniss glimpsed back over at Peeta as he cursed under his breath and deflated back into his plastic chair.

"Busted, Mellark!" jeered Finnick as he sprinted down the aisles and wrenched open the door.

"Um. I'll see you around then" Katniss said as she awkwardly lifted her rucksack higher up onto her shoulder.

"Yeah, bye Katniss" he responded, his hand reaching out to just barely squeeze hers where it rested between them. Katniss blushed_—_for perhaps the _millionth _time that day_—_before rushing off into the car park before she had the chance to do anything stupid in response.

* * *

Katniss sat on her couch at home, stuffing her face with buttery popcorn. She tried drowning out the whining of Zooey Deschanel whilst Prim watched _New Girl _on Netflix, but it was without much success. It was nearly ten o'clock, and their mother still wasn't home yet. _Go figure._

Katniss looked over at her younger sister as the dimmed light from the television screen illuminated her pale creamy skin and shiny golden braids. Primrose Everdeen was truly the antithesis of her older sister in every possible way. Prim was kind, gentle and placid whilst Katniss was sullen, quiet and brooding. But it worked, and the pair seemed to bring out the best in each other. Katniss always used her fiery temper to encourage her sister to stand up for herself more, whilst Prim often used her easy-going nature to teach Katniss to be more patient with their mother. It was evident to anyone who ever glanced their way that the sisters loved each other fiercely.

Katniss dragged the nail brush over her sisters little toe, covering it in a final coat of soft pastel blue before she placed her foot back onto the sofa to admire her handiwork. Katniss had no real interest in pedicures or beauty herself, but she often found herself doing these small acts for Prim. It's not as though their mother was ever around to do it. Katniss yawned and looked back over to the television screen, just as Zooey Deschanel rammed a turkey into a washing machine.

_This is most definitely my cue to leave._

Katniss frowned as she pushed herself up from the sofa and took her bowl into the kitchen. She had no interest in watching the annoying television programme with her sister anymore, despite Prim's insistence that it was hilarious once you got into it. As she scraped the remnants from her bowl into the trash, her eyes began to feel heavy as the long day at school caught up with her.

"Hey, Primmy. I'm going to bed now, okay?" she whispered as she popped her head around the door frame.

"Sure" her sister replied through a mouthful of popcorn, her eyes barely moving an inch from the display.

Katniss grabbed her rucksack and wandered through the neglected hallways of her home, running her fingertips along the crumbling plaster as she made her way into her bedroom. She pulled the elastic from her braid and let her hair cascade down her back as she stretched her arms over her head. She closed the faded purple curtains that she had owned since childhood before she padded over into the tiny bathroom. She quickly changed into her pyjamas, washed her face and brushed her teeth before finally snuggling down beneath her duvet.

The night air was cool against the skin of her arms, a soothing contrast to the sheer humidity that they had been experiencing in the daytime. Panem was never known for its sweltering temperatures, but if the sun ever did make a rare appearance, its residents seemed to go crazy. The potbellied, fuzzy haired men all decided to whip their shirts off around town, the bored housewives ran into their front lawns with gallons of tanning oil and large foil reflectors, and the girls at school wore dark, oversized sunglasses and bikinis under their dresses. When in reality, it was only around seventeen degrees.

Katniss closed her eyes as an errant bead of sweat trickled down her neck and between her breasts. She rolled onto her back as she willed her body to relax into the lumpy old mattress. But for some reason, her limbs felt antsy all of a sudden and her eyelids flickered when she closed them. The room was slightly stuffy, and so she reached over and clicked on the fan which sat on her desk. It was rather a clunky looking machine, but it served its purpose. She closed her eyes once more as her skin prickled with gooseflesh from the cooling breeze. But this time, images of Peeta seemed to dance behind her eyelids and taunt her. Much to her dismay, her body flushed and butterflies filled her stomach almost immediately. She could hear his laughter in the cafeteria. She could feel his large, calloused hand squeezing hers in English class. She could still smell the overwhelming scents of cologne and body wash and all of the other indescribably _male _scents which had emanated from him today. And most importantly, she could still picture the golden trail of hair that lead alluringly down into his shorts. She wondered, for a brief moment, what it might be like to kiss and lick her way down that golden trail and where it would lead.

Unbidden, her hand slipped beneath the elastic waistband of her underwear. Her tentative fingers moved to trace her opening and she gasped when she felt the slickness that had gathered between her thighs. Katniss collected the moisture with her fingertips and dragged them upwards to graze her clit.

_What the fuck was she doing?!_

This needed to stop. It wasn't that she had never gotten herself off before, because she _had. _She was a normal, hormone fuelled seventeen year old with needs, despite what everyone else thought. But it was usually a gallery of faceless men moving over her and thrusting into her that sent her whimpering into her pillow. It was most definitely _not _images of Peeta Mellark. Katniss bolted upright in bed and tried to control her erratic breathing. She darted across the room to her rucksack and she delved through it in search of the plastic pill box that sat inside. The small blue container only held basic things like ibuprofen and herbal stress relievers, and she swallowed an ibuprofen dry to alleviate her rapidly forming headache. She choked as the capsule scraped and lodged its way down her throat and she just hoped that it would ease the headache that was developing at the base of her skull. She sank down onto the carpet and crossed her legs as she glanced back towards her rucksack. She probed through the canvas in search of her battered old copy of _Frankenstein_, praying that a bit of mindless reading would exhaust her mind and ease the tension in body. Her clit seemed to throb mockingly and so she clambered onto her knees and squeezed her thighs together in response. As she flicked passed her notes and opened the dog eared book, a small piece of graph paper swayed down into her lap. Confused, Katniss unfurled the paper and gulped at what she read.

_Lunch was nice today. Same place tomorrow?_

_Ps, I can't wait for our date ;) _

_PM. _

* * *

**A/N: I'd just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has followed/favourited/reviewed this story so far! I didn't know if i'd get much of a response at all, so to get any sort of feedback was beyond what I expected. That being said, I would really love to hear what you thought of this chapter and what you might like to see happen in that chapters to come :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_At first, all that he could fathom were sensations. The gentle lapping of waves against his feet. The buzzing of insect wings as they fluttered around his face. The saline air that was so sultry and dense that he could barely catch his breath. He blinked away the searing white lights that danced and pulsed in his vision as he lifted his head. The first thing that he noticed was the small metal disk beneath his boots that crowned a towering podium. As he tilted his neck even further, a tropical landscape of golden sands and lush green treetops suffused his vision. The expanse of foliage in the distance seemed to be so lush that even from afar he could see the swaying coconuts and the brightly coloured birds which teemed around the leaves. And if he squinted, he could see the swishing of curly brown tails and the blinking of bright yellow eyes that peeked out from between the shrubbery. _

_Everything was wet, so very wet. Even his skin was pebbled with dewy droplets of moisture and meandering trails of sweat. He looked up to the sky above him, which was streaked with a florists bouquet of dusky pinks, vibrant corals and gentle lavenders that made him ache for the feel of his paintbrush between his fingers. The bright skyline melted down into pale sand. The pale sand melted down into glistening waters. The glistening waters crashed and roiled against his feet. _

_His ears pricked up as a muffled clap of thunder rumbled in the distance. The birdsong ceased. The branches flailed. The dragonflies scattered. Even the podium beneath him seemed to tremble in fear. All at once the serenity of the landscape was obliterated in favour of an unforgiving callousness. A collective gulp seemed to resound from behind the tree line. He knew that he was in trouble from the crippling anxiety that tied his stomach into knots. The careening waves seemed to be so dark and unrelenting as they writhed against his podium and sent sharp flurries of water against his skin like tiny shards of glass. He flinched and gasped into the misty air as he noticed the enormous silver structure that stood tall and impenetrable within the heart of the waves. He wasn't quite sure how he hadn't noticed it before. Its towering walls carved sharp, angular silhouettes into the skyline that just a few moments ago he had been so ardently admiring. The burning orange sunlight glinted against the smoothened walls of the construction and illuminated the sharpened steel blades of the daggers and knifes that were safely concealed inside. A fissure of terror ripped down his spine. Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place. Understanding surged through his bones and he knew exactly what he had to do. As the deep waves darkened, his thoughts became clearer and his resolve became stronger. And it all happened so quickly. He could hear the deafening countdown of the bombs in his ears. He could feel the rubbery wetsuit which was tight and constricting against his skin. He could see the circle of people who stood amongst him upon their own platforms of silver and black. He could sense their dread and their anger that was just as bitter as the salty air that lingered around them. But most importantly, he could locate her dark braid across the tide that dared to separate them. She was a lot skinnier than he had ever seen her before, her cheeks hollowed and her ribs protruding. A flash of images, each as fleeting and brief as the last rocketed through his mind like a picture show. A burnt loaf of bread, a vial of sleep syrup, a handful of berries. He wasn't entirely sure what they meant, only that each of them worked to link his survival so intrinsically with hers. He knew without a doubt that he had to protect her. Because that's what they did, her words echoed throughout his head. But as his counterparts dived into the water and cut through the waves, he was powerless to move. His flimsy boots felt as though they had been filled with cement and his floundering limbs were locked into place. He could feel the bile rising up into his throat as he watched the girl with the braid negotiate the waters and hoist herself up onto the land which surrounded the shimmering cornucopia. He watched in awe as she sprinted across the rocky land and grabbed a bow and a sheath of arrows from the extensive bounty of weapons. She was dark, she was dangerous, she was an avenging angel that pounded across the land. But his heart stuttered inside of his chest when the sharp, metallic prongs of a trident were poised in her direction from across the pile of armaments. But whilst the girl with the braid was locked in a deadly standoff with her bronze haired opponent, she didn't notice the muscular body which emerged from the jagged coast of rocks that bordered the land. But __he__ did. And his eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he noticed the hilt of the knife that was clamped between the teeth of the ginormous man with dark blonde hair. The blade glistened with gelatinous blood as rich and as red as a trove of rubies. He watched in horror as the man grinned and extracted the knife from his lips before aiming his weapon in the direction of the girl with the braid. No! He wanted to scream. Look behind you! He tried to shout as the knife rippled through the air. But he couldn't speak, he couldn't move, he couldn't do anything but watch in his sickening state of paralysis. He tried to scream her name. _

_Katniss! _

_Katniss!_

"Katniss" he whimpered into the darkness. Peeta bolted upright and thrashed against the sheets that had coiled around his limbs. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand as he glanced around his bedroom. His jeans were still dumped on his desk chair where he had left them the night before. His various football posters were still tacked to the dark blue walls. His slickened torso was still shirtless and free from the confines of any sort of wetsuit. There was no water, no blood, and definitely no Katniss. But his heart still pounded inside of his chest. He ran a shaky hand through his hair and shoved his fingers beneath his dampened pillow in search of his phone.

_4:38AM. _

Three fruitless rounds of _Candy Crush _later and he threw the duvet back from his body in frustration before grabbing his robe from the back of the door. Thin streaks of lamplight filtered in from the street outside and illuminated his path as he padded across the landing. The loud ticking of the grandfather clock down the hall chimed in perfect synchronisation with each of his heavy footfalls. The familiar walls were lined with the posed family photographs and the oversized wrestling trophies that his mother polished to precision. It was the combination of each of these sights and sounds that began to convince him that it really was _just a dream_. As he reached the bathroom door, he wondered why the dream had seemed so _real, _why the landscape had seemed so _familiar. _He had never been a stranger to the occasional bad dream before. But if he had a nightmare, they were usually to the script of being chased down an alleyway or having someone yank down his underpants in public or something. But within the last few days something had changed. He had been dreaming so vividly about fiery flames licking his skin, about fantastical parties where Katniss waltzed in feathered gowns and about long handled swords that were being plunged into his leg. But none of them had been as intense as this one. Peeta shook his head as he peeled down his pyjama bottoms and stumbled into the shower. He was exhausted, overwrought, and slightly pissed at his overactive imagination. He _really_ needed to ease up on watching those action adventure movies before he went to bed.

_Today is going to be a long day_, he thought with a sigh.

* * *

When he parked up at school later that morning, Peeta couldn't help but chuckle at the herds of students that had gathered outside to savour their last moments of freedom. The chattering pupils lounged over the sizzling bonnets of their cars and sprawled out across the sun-drenched patches of grass which covered the quad. He watched as the basketball players wiped the sweat from their foreheads with their jerseys and the cheerleaders as they rolled up their tank tops to tie into knots around their stomachs. He could hardly blame them. Panem was just starting to experience its first heat wave of the year. The blue haired weather presenter on _Panem Today _had even predicted that they were about to encounter one of the hottest summers on record.

Peeta welcomed the cool bursts of air conditioning that washed over his heated skin as he stepped beneath the large arched entryway. His white sneakers squeaked against the vinyl flooring as he looked around at the garish ensemble of posters that had been taped to the walls overnight. The traditional school colours of red, white and blue were almost completely concealed by the large rectangles of laminated card. The bright pink fliers poked out the vents of lockers and were plastered against the doors of classrooms and utility closets alike. His school never went into things half-heartedly, that was for sure.

He returned the greetings of the guys from the wrestling team as they nodded their heads at him in recognition and rolled his eyes with equal showmanship at the girls who leaned against their lockers and fluttered their eyelashes in his direction. He could only imagine that their tight halter neck tops and short bodycon skirts were in honour of both the soaring temperatures and the upcoming Summer Ball. As he reached his locker he realised with a sigh that _both_ had the power to turn a girl completely crazy. Well, _most _girls. He highly doubted that Katniss Everdeen went gaga over tiaras, limousines and corsages. After he grabbed his books, Peeta scrutinized the various stacks of permission slips and fliers which sat amongst the other piles of junk in his locker. A frown crossed over his face when he came across an official looking padded envelope that was addressed to his parents. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he searched for the coiffed grey hair or the ugly kitten heels that were both symbolic of Miss Coin before he tossed the letter into a nearby trash can. As he continued through his correspondents, he was less than surprised to find one of the glitter embossed invitations to the schools Summer Ball placed delicately beside a rather nasty looking banana skin. He grumbled in annoyance as he pinched the elaborate card between his thumb and forefinger. Because one glance at the dark fuchsia borders and the fancy gold calligraphy was all that needed to decipher who had designed these invitations.

_Glimmer_.

Peeta thought back to Friday night and how the blonde had thrown herself at him in those barely there hotpants. He thought back to how he had slithered his hands beneath the silky top that had strained against her chest. He cringed as he remembered how she had giggled when his fingertips had brushed against the lacy underwire of her bra. And he vaguely remembered her grinding her hips against him as she begged him to take her upstairs. But he _also _recalled pushing her drunken body away from him as he bolted for the door. As the obscure assortment of memories came hurtling back into his mind, Peeta let his forehead slump miserably against the door of his locker. If passing out in Katniss' yard wasn't affirmation enough of his intoxication that night, his rendezvous with Glimmer most definitely was. Glimmer was way too much high maintenance. She was clingy, she was conceited, and she was _trouble. _ He couldn't deny that she was attractive, because she most certifiably was. And you only had to listen to Cato Roberts banging on about her _massive rack _to realise that everybody else thought it too. But nobody seemed to know it more than she did herself. She strutted and sashayed her way around town like she was some kind of high-end underwear model or something. But without the guise of her expensive makeup, she could only be likened to Voldemort with a weave.

_Okay, that was a little harsh. _

Admittedly, he had slept with her a couple of times. But they had mostly just fooled around whenever he was drunk. Which he was ashamed to admit was _most _of the time these days. Only on the weekends of course, he wasn't a _complete_ mess. But after the influx of calls, texts and Facebook comments that he had received from Glimmer since Friday, he'd been avoiding her like the plague.

_Yeah, he could fuck her again. He could close his eyes and imagine that the long legs wrapped around him were actually a petite set of olive toned limbs. He could imagine that the face contorting with pleasure beneath him was actually the canvas to a steely pair of grey eyes. _

"Get a grip, Mellark" he mumbled to himself as he pushed the salacious thoughts of Katniss away from his mind. He gathered up his gym bag and let it swing by his side as he began the walk towards his first class. His glanced back around him and tried to blend in with a large group of third years behind him as he discreetly adjusted the crotch of his shorts.

"HEADS UP!" a deep, male voice roared from down the hallway. Peeta turned just in time to recognise the flash of tousled bronze hair that charged towards him before he was tackled down to the ground.

"Mellark! Odair! Get up off the floor and make your way to my office. _Now__!_"

_Yep, it was definitely going to be a very, __very__ long day _he thought to himself as he peeled his face from the ground and shoved Finnick off of his back_._

* * *

Peeta tapped his foot impatiently against the chequered linoleum flooring of the cafeteria. He rolled up the sleeves of his plaid shirt just for something to do with his restless hands. He wound his fingers around the threads which hung loose from the navy blue flannel and pulled them free with a sigh. He grabbed fistfuls of his soft blonde hair and cursed his very existence.

_Why did I leave her that stupid note? _

He was almost positive that he never been so worked up over anything in his life, never mind a _girl. _But he felt his cock twitch inside his jeans in protest as memories of the girl in question flittered forth into his mind. He didn't even know what had possessed him to leave her that suggestive little note the day before. He had regretted it from the moment that he had pulled his fingers free from the dark green folds of her rucksack. And he'd spent about half of their English class afterwards trying to fish it back out with his ruler and a bent paperclip.

_Does she think I'm a creep? Will she even show? Maybe she never even saw it. _He agonised as he pulled out a plastic container from his gym bag and dropped it onto the table with a thump. He decided in that moment to claim that the container full of muffins, pastries and cookies were simply leftovers from his father's bakery in town that would have been thrown out otherwise. Peeta felt his body flush with heat at just the thought of telling Katniss that he had actually baked them himself. He was mortified at the idea of her ever knowing that he had made such a vast variety of sweets just so that he could find out which ones were her favourites.

_Pull yourself together, man!_

He grabbed two bottles of sparkling water from his bag and waited. He paused for a moment as he stopped to fiddle with the strap of the simple sports watch that he had decided to wear in favour of his much flashier silver model. He looked at the display of baked goods in front of him and briefly wondered if he had done too much. He didn't want to look too eager and scare her away. He knew for a fact that most of the other girls in their year would have eaten this shit up—literally. Their mascaraed eyes would have probably burst into love hearts like they were some kind of besotted cartoon character. But Katniss Everdeen was most definitely _not _most girls. Her eyes weren't constantly squinting at her smartphone and her lips weren't constantly smothered in gunky looking lip gloss. In fact, Katniss barely wore any makeup at all. She didn't need it. Peeta toyed with the plastic lid of his water bottle as he glanced around the pillar in front of him. Glimmer and her designer handbag wielding cronies hadn't arrived yet and the cafeteria was unusually quiet without their squealing. He did spot his football buddies tucking into their chilli and nachos across the hall though. He couldn't help but grimace at the sight of Cato's beet red face as he shoved heaped forkfuls into his mouth, completely unaware of brownish red sauce that dribbled down his chin. The brutish guy may have been a beast in defence, but he quite clearly could not eat a meal without spilling half of it down his face. Peeta chuckled to himself as he saw a disgusted looking Finnick throw a thick wad of paper napkins at the bulky blonde. Peeta had gym class with them next period, and judging by the dicey looking servings of slop on their plates it was going to one foul smelling changing room afterwards. Peeta repressed a shudder as his gaze left his friends, roved over the table of the debate team and towards the lunch line. But the long dark braid that he was searching for was nowhere in sight. He wondered what the holdup was. _Was she sick? _ He briefly fretted over the state of the cheese buns that he had served her yesterday.

"Hey" rasped a gentle, hesitant voice from behind him.

Peeta whirled around in his seat so fast that his head spun. And much to his delight, he was met with the curious silver eyes and the smooth honeyed skin that had been driving him crazy all night. Her hand was hovering uselessly in the air between them as though he had just caught her in the middle of deciding whether to tap him on the shoulder or not.

_How did she creep up on me like that?_ He thought with a slight shake of his head.

Katniss fiddled with the silky end of her braid as she looked back towards him with uncertainty etched across her face. Peeta on the other hand, almost had to wipe his chin to make sure that he wasn't drooling. His eyes widened at the sight of the charcoal grey tank top that hugged her curves and only seemed to intensify the smoky hue of her eyes. But what really caught his interest was the pair of white cotton shorts that hung from her hips and showcased her tanned, slender thighs. He watched her wordlessly as she licked her lips in thought before finally taking a seat opposite him. He really did try his hardest not to stare at the pink tip of her tongue as it grazed over the soft, swollen flesh of her lips. But resistance was futile. Peeta cleared his throat awkwardly as he realised that he had yet to manage a single word.

"What's all this?" Katniss asked as she picked up the unopened bottle of water next to his own and used it to point at the plastic container in front of him.

His tongue felt heavy inside of his mouth as he tried to articulate a response. He was certain that he had never been so tongue tied in all of his life. In fact, he had often prided himself as being some kind of virtuoso with words. He was _silver tongued, _as Finnick had often told him. But he supposed it didn't help that every inappropriate fantasy that he had had about Katniss in the past twenty-four hours seemed to be playing on a loop inside his head.

"Oh, um. For you" he sputtered clumsily as he prised open the lid. He felt like some kind of inarticulate caveman. Katniss looked back at him in surprise as he extended his hand and offered her a white chocolate chip cookie from the top of the pile.

"Thanks. But, did you make these with your eyes closed?" she asked as she inspected the golden biscuit with a mischievous grin.

Peeta felt his brow furrow in confusion. He took a large gulp of his raspberry flavoured water to help quench the desert that seemed to have formed inside of his mouth. But as he swallowed the bubbly liquid he remembered the overconfident claims that he had made about his aptitude for baking the day before. He couldn't help but cringe as a flush of embarrassment warmed his cheeks. _At least she hadn't mentioned the part of the conversation when he inadvertently called himself a pussy. _

"No, I'm afraid not" he finally replied with a playful shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh. Well how about with your hands tied behind your back?" she continued to tease as she narrowed her eyes in his direction and took her first bite.

Before he could offer a reply, a guttural moan of satisfaction issued forth past her lips.

"_Mmm_, Peeta. This is really goddamn good" she enthused around her bite.

Peeta shuffled in his seat, painfully aware of the hardness that was forming in his pants.

"I think I may have underestimated you" she added as she hummed in appreciation.

Peeta offered her a weak smile as he tried his best to placate the erection that was straining against his shorts in response to her small sighs of approval. He tried to conjure up the memory of the time when he had walked in on his Dad in the shower to gross himself out and effectively calm himself down. But his thumb seemed to be twitching in its desire to reach across the table and wipe the errant crumbs from the creases beside her lips.

_Or maybe he could wipe them away with his lips, or his tongue. Damn._

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the irritated stomps of the purple Doc Marten boots that stampeded their way over towards their table.

"Hey brainless, can you stop drooling over Blondie and get the hell up? It's Tuesday. We have to get to Archery Club, or did you forget?" snapped the acidic voice that broke into their conversation. Or _lack _of conversation on his part. The sharp intonation of the words seemed to drown out just about every one of his own that he could possibly have uttered. He realised that the words probably would have only caught in his throat anyway.

Peeta looked up in surprise, his hackles raised. But the menacing glare that was being cast in his direction made him wish that he hadn't.

_Johanna Mason. _

Johanna Mason was someone that you most definitely did _not _want to mess with. The simpering teenager must have been at least a foot shorter than him, but she still scared the living daylights out of Peeta. He'd never forgotten the rumours a couple of years back that claimed she had threatened a guy with an axe when he tried to grab her ass. Peeta wasn't quite sure himself whether or not the rumours were true. He knew from experience that half of the stories that were passed around on notes and whispered between ears in this small town were based on lies. But he had to admit, Johanna certainly looked capable. At a first glance, she _might_ have looked waif-like and rather unassuming in appearance. She had a small upturned nose and large brown eyes that could almost be described as delicate. But that's as far as it went. If you looked closer you'd note the dark lashings of kohl that rimmed her eyes and the severe looking piercings that twinkled across her pale skin. Her black hair was cut into a short, angular bob and streaked with a vibrant shock of blood red. It was fair to say that the teachers at their school had long since given up trying to reprimand her with copies of the uniform policy. And whilst he found Katniss' scowl nothing short of a turn on, Johanna's made him shrink back down into his seat.

"What are you looking at, Blondie?" Johanna spat in his direction. His mouth dropped open in shock as he looked back over towards an apologetic looking Katniss.

"Nothing" he coughed as he looked back down towards the rubber soles of his sneakers.

"You can be such a bitch sometimes, you know that?" Katniss growled in Johanna's general direction.

"Whatever, Brainless. Come on" she replied irritably as she popped a stick of gum into her mouth and twiddled with her lip ring.

"Sorry, Peeta… I have to go. But I guess I'll see you around" Katniss said as she gathered up her bag and denim jacket—an item that he had never even noticed until now—from beneath the table. But before she stood to leave, she unzipped one of the small pockets at the front of her rucksack and grabbed a crumpled piece of notepaper from inside. As she unfolded it, Peeta regarded the scruffy looking writing which filled the square with mild interest before it was pushed gingerly in his direction. His brows furrowed as he looked down to the small line of script that had been scrawled between two of the lines.

_katnisseverdeen12 _

"That's the email address for my _District Chat_ account. Maybe you can add me and we can sort out that studying stuff you wanted to do" she muttered. She cleared her throat uncomfortably as she grabbed a wispy piece of hair that had escaped from her braid and curled it back behind her ear.

Peeta could only stare at the rumpled paper, completely dumbstruck.

"Well, um. Bye" she added awkwardly as she got to her feet. He didn't miss the way that she frowned at her friend whose expression was both incredulous and notably disgusted.

"Bye" he replied, his mouth agape.

As a determined looking Johanna dragged her away from the cafeteria, he overheard the cut-throat comments that she snarled towards Katniss through gritted teeth.

_"What are you doing hanging around with him?" _

_"He's a fucking douchebag, I hope you know!" _

But Peeta couldn't help but grin. Especially when Katniss turned back towards him as she rounded the corner to leave and rolled her eyes in his direction.

_It isn't her phone number, but it's a start _he thought as he folded the paper up neatly and placed it into the front pocket of his shirt.

* * *

Peeta stepped out from beneath the steaming hot spray of water and reached for his various bottles of shampoo and body wash as he shut off the shower. He grabbed his towel and ran the soft blue cotton through his hair before wrapping it around his waist and padding back across the slick white tiles. He could hear Finnick's bellowing laughter echoing off the walls as he strolled down the short corridor and into the raucous commotion of the changing room.

"Hey, Mellark! Are _you_ coming on Friday?" yelled Cato.

"Why, what's happening?" Peeta asked as he snatched up his deodorant from his gym bag and gave the canister a shake.

"Clove's having a barbecue, her Dad's away on business or some shit. So while the parents are away, the Cato can play" he leered as he nodded his head and thrust his hips around like some kind of deranged zoo animal.

Peeta's thoughts instantly went to Katniss, as they so often did nowadays. If he wasn't fantasying about wrapping her dark hair around his fist and exploring the soft planes of her neck with his lips, he was agonizing over the question that had been bouncing around in his head all week. The seven words that he just couldn't manage to spit out already were practically imprinted into his brain in flashing neon letters.

_Can I see you again on Saturday?_

He wasn't so enamoured that the idea of filthy toilet bowls and sticky table tops thrilled him anymore than they had last weekend. But he did crave the easy rapport, the playful banter and the contagious smiles that came significantly more freely in the seclusion of the ramshackle bar. He would happily suffer through the stale aroma, the filth encrusted plates, the dirty ashtrays and a whole lot more as long as he could see her again. And he categorically did _not_ want to be sporting the booze breath nor the debilitating hangover this time either. He had humiliated himself enough last time.

Besides, Clove Dyer was one of Glimmer's best friends. The petite brunette was as much of an accessory to the snooty blonde as were her quilted purses and rose gold bracelets. He needed the beady eyed glares across the griddle from Clove just about as much as he needed Glimmer draped over him all evening long. Which on reflection, was about the equivalent to how much he needed a _gaping hole in the head. _Clove was petty, mean and alarmingly similar to his mother with her calculating frowns and snide remarks. _No wonder my mother constantly seems to badger me about asking her out on a date _he thought with a sigh_. _His mother's shrill cries about _a respectable family _briefly filled his ears for the millionth time and made him shudder. The idea of this barbecue was sounding less and less appealing as the minutes wore on.

"I'm not sure, man" he finally replied as he pulled his white tee back over his head. His buddy Thresh gave him a sympathetic smile from across the changing room which he returned with a sarcastic raise of his eyebrows. Peeta pulled his flannel over his shoulders and reached for his iPhone as he blocked out the rest of Cato's words. He slid his finger across the screen and skimmed through his notifications as the rest of his friends started making plans and calling dibs. He scanned down the list to see that three missed calls from Glimmer, one text message from his brother and one circular type email from Amazon greeted him. He trashed them all in disappointment as he loaded up his instant messaging app to check if he had any messages from Katniss. But as he clicked on her name and stared at the screen, he realised that she didn't even have _his_ email address anyway. _Dumbass._

"You can bring that new piece of yours if you like" Finnick chuckled as he perched his chin on Peeta's shoulder and elbowed him the ribs.

"Finn, it's not like that. _She's _not like that" he protested as he pulled away and reached for his shorts. But couldn't help but contemplate for a moment what Katniss actually _would _say if he plucked up the courage to invite her along.

_Would a plastic cup full of beer lower her inhibitions around him? Would a flask swilling with liquor lessen his nerves around her?_

He wasn't sure if it was a good idea at all, but he couldn't deny the tiny spark of excitement that raced through him at the prospect of spending more time with her outside of school.

Ten minutes later and he fled the locker room to a backdrop of catcalls and whistles that hounded him out of the door.

* * *

Peeta slammed down his Wii remote onto the coffee table with an unnecessarily loud thud. His brothers chortled across the room and high-fived each other as one of the computerised characters barged Peeta's own off the track. He watched in barely concealed rage as his Yoshi plummeted down into the darkness and the screen faded to black. _Fucking Rainbow Road. _He cursed as Lakitu breezed into his third of the screen and dropped him back down onto the course. In _ninth_ place. The laughter of his brothers only seemed to intensify as the screams of his mother echoed throughout the house as she demanded him to _be more respectful!_

"Whatever, you guys are jerks" Peeta mumbled as he stomped up the staircase and towards his bedroom on the third floor of their home.

He plonked himself down at his cluttered desk and fiddled with the mouse of the iMac computer that his parents had bought him for Christmas. The large screen flickered into life as he typed in his password and waited for his desktop to load. He was greeted with the blank Microsoft Word document that he had pulled up earlier in the day in his feeble attempts to write the covering letter for his college application. The blinking cursor seemed to mock him as he glared at the bottom left of the page.

_Words: 0. _

He took a sip from the tepid mug of tea that he had managed to swipe in the midst of his dramatic exit and sighed. He was never going to get accepted anywhere at this rate. He wasn't even sure if he was that bothered. As he mentally tallied the work that he still needed to catch up on, his thoughts transitioned into daydreams about Katniss.

_That was a logical leap, right? She was his unofficial tutor after all. _

Her email address suddenly seemed to be burning a hole in his pocket as he logged into _District Chat_ and searched for her name. And much to his surprise, a small lime green circle appeared next to her email address. She was online. He let his cursor hover over her name for a scant few moments before he dared to click and create a new chat window. Her display picture was one of those default ones that you could pick from the inane selection of images that were already pre-installed onto the instant messaging service. As he ran a hand through his hair he couldn't help but wish that it was an image of her pretty little face staring back at him and not the panting muzzle of a golden retriever. His own picture was a rather tongue-in-cheek selfie of himself and Finnick as they clutched their team's most recent football trophy between them. He briefly toyed with the idea of changing it; he had to admit that he looked pretty damn ridiculous. He eventually decided against it, and his fingers poised over the keys as he agonised over what to say. He decided that it was best to start simple.

**Peeta: (18:27) **hey

_There, that was inoffensive enough _he thought as he worried his bottom lip between his teeth.

**Katniss: (18:28) **hi

**Katniss: (18:28) **sorry about Jo today. She can be a bit overbearing at times.

**Peeta: (18:29) **No worries. I guess I _can_ be kind of a douchebag sometimes.

**Katniss: (18:31) **so you heard that huh

**Katniss: (18:31) **well… I don't think you're a douchebag

**Peeta: (18:32) **:)

**Peeta: (18:35) **So, I have something to ask you

**Katniss: (18:39) **Okay...

**Peeta: (18:40) **there's this barbecue happening on Friday night. Do you want to maybe come with me?

He knew that it was stupid, but he felt kind of empowered behind the defences of his computer screen. Without those piercing grey eyes and those adorable little freckles in front of him, he could almost forget that it was actually her that he was talking to. Besides, his fingers had already typed out the question and hit send before his brain had even caught up to realise. He groaned out loud as he steeled himself for the inevitable rejection.

_Katniss is typing… _

Peeta stared at those three little words that filled his screen for over two whole minutes before they disappeared from the chat box entirely.

_Oh shit. Why did she stop typing? Oh shit. Oh __shit__!_

_Katniss is typing… _

**Katniss: (18:44) **I don't know… I'm not really the partying type.

**Peeta: (18:46) **Come on Katniss! It'll be fun, I promise.

**Katniss: (18:48) **what about the studying you wanted to do?

**Peeta: (18:48) **Screw the studying! Look, if you don't enjoy yourself… we can always steal everyone's beer and leave. If you think that its lame I'll take you straight home.

His heart thudded inside of his chest as he waited possibly the longest five minutes of his life. It was like the slowest form of torture waiting for her response. He could almost imagine how she was sitting at home, her legs crossed and her lips pursed in thought as she deliberated over her decision. He gnawed at his thumbnail a little too vigorously as the soft swooshing sound of an incoming message blared through his speakers.

**Katniss: (18:53) **… okay.

Peeta couldn't control the shit eating grin that broke out over his face. He wasn't sure how one little and very hesitant sounding word could fill him with so much excitement. He spun around in his leather desk chair until his head whirled so much that he almost fell off it completely. As he returned to an upright position he pumped his fist into the air and mimed his cries of victory as if he had just scored a winning home run.

**Peeta: (18:54) **awesome. I'll pick you up at 8.

**Katniss: (18:54) **Okay. Look, I gotta go… I might see you around tomorrow.

_Katniss has signed out. _

* * *

**A/N: And there we have chapter three! Once again I'd like to say a massive thank you to all of you who have favourited/followed/reviewed! Some of you really make my day, so thank you. I feel like this would be a good place to say that for obvious reasons I do not own ****_The Hunger Games_**** nor do I own ****_The Spectacular Now. _****Also, I took a few creative liberties with the dream sequence. Please do let me know what you thought of this chapter, I've been kind of unsure about this one and as always I would love to hear what you thought. Reviews are my only form of feedback so please don't be shy! **


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